Financials Lift S&P 500 by 1.75

Market Update Analysis:

Financials Lift S&P 500 by 1.75%

Author: 123jump.com Staff
123jump.com
Last Update: 8:56 PM EST January 28 2008

U.S. stocks rallied ahead of the Fed meeting. Investors hoping that a rate cut of 0.75% last week will be followed by another rate cut of as much as 0.5%. Merger talks between Chicago Merc and Nymex heated up, after both companies confirmed on-going talks. Nymex jumped 11% on the news. Alliance Data Systems plunged 35% after Blackstone Group cited regulatory hurdle to the deal. Alliance disagreed with the assertion. McDonalds dropped 6% after its domestic stores reported weak sales in December.

10:00PM Frankfurt, 4:00PM New York, 8:00AM Sydney – U.S. stocks rallied on the hopes that the Federal Reserve will lower rates at the end of the 2-day meeting scheduled to begin tomorrow.

European Markets

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 80.10 or 1.36% to 5,788.90, in Paris CAC 40 Index decreased 29.82 or 0.61% to close at 4,848.30 and in Frankfurt DAX index higher 2.11 or 0.03% to close at 6,818.85. In Zurich trading SMI decreased 105.15 or 1.37% to close at 7,581.73.

North American Markets indexes

Dow Jones Industrial Average added 176.72 or 1.45% to a close of 12,383.89, S&P 500 closed up 23.35 or 1.75% to 1,353.96, and Nasdaq Composite Index traded up 23.71 or 1.02% to a close of 2,349.91.

In Toronto TSX Composite closed up 92.07 or 0.71% to close at 12,986.90.

Of the 30 stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 27 closed higher, 3 closed lower, and none were unchanged.

JP Morgan Chase led the gainers in the index with a rise of 4% followed by increases in American Express of 4.3%, in Citigroup of 3.79%, and in Caterpillar of 3.46%. McDonalds led the decliners in the index with a fall of 5.6% followed by losses in Microsoft of 0.67% and in Procter & Gamble of 0.03%.

Of the stocks in S&P 500, 432 closed higher, 64 fell, and 4 were unchanged.

One hundred and forty four stocks rose more than 3% and eight stocks fell more than 3%.

Dillard’s led the gainers in the index with a rise of 9.8% followed by increases in New York Times of 9.6%, in Harman International of 9.5%, and in Lennar Corp of 8.9%. Clear Channel led the decliners in the index with a loss of 7.1% followed by losses in McDonalds of 5.6%, in Precision Cast of 5.5%, and in Wendy’s of 5.3%.

South American Markets Indexes

In Latin Markets Brazil led the advancers in the region with a gain of 1.97% followed by increases in Mexico of 1.38%, in Argentina of 1.06%, in Chile of 0.42%, and in Venezuela of 0.03%. Peru fell 0.4%.

Asian Markets

In Tokyo Nikkei 225 Index closed lower 541.25 or 3.97% to 13,087.91, in Hong Kong Hang Seng index decreased 1068.76 or 4.25% closed to 25,053.61. Market of Australia was closed today.

In South Korea Kospi Index decreased 65.22 or 3.85% to close at 1,627.19, in Thailand SET index closed lower 15.36 or 2.02% to 744.36, and Indonesia JSE Index edged decreased 38.44 or 1.47% to 2,582.05. Sensex index in India decreased 208.90 or 1.14% to 18,152.78.

Bond Yields increased on 10-year U.S. bonds to 3.58% and on 30-year bonds gained to 4.28%.

Commodities, Metals, and Currencies

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